Twelve activists affiliated with Kenya Bora Tuitakayo Citizens Association have moved to court to avert the installation of CS nominees Kithure Kindiki, Opiyo Wandayi, and Aden Duale citing gross violation of the constitution.

The petitioners posit that the Constitution provides that dismissed public office holders cannot be appointed again to public service. 

For Wandayi, the petitioners argued that his appointment would be a waste of public funds when the Ugunja Constituency is sent back to the ballot.

“The constitution is clear that a state or public officer once dismissed cannot be appointed to public office. This is in line with Article 73 and 75 under Chapter 6 of the Constitution,” Cyprian Nyamwamu, who led the activists in filing the petitions, explained.

“Article 201 demands prudent use of resources. If Wandayi is made CS, a by-election will be occasioned by the President,” they observed adding, “The President already caused numerous by-elections in 2022 by appointing Alice Wahome, Duale, and Kipchumba Murkomen.”

The petitioners are concerned that the re-appointment of Kindiki would interfere with ongoing investigations over human rights abuse committed by security personnel in the recent anti-government protests.

“Other than the people who were brutally killed and maimed by the police, the police went on a kidnapping spree and Kindiki must bear the highest responsibility for all these atrocities that were meted out to the Kenyan youth whose only crime was a clamor for a just, accountable, ethical and equitable Kenyan society,” read their petition in part.

Led by Cyprian Nyamwamu, the petitioners noted that the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights indicated that 60 people died and 66 more went missing.

The activists further objected to the nomination of Wandayi as a Cabinet Secretary nominee for Energy saying it “was done in flagrant violation of Article 10 in that there was no public participation of the people of Ugunja to defeat their suffrage.” Given that Wandayi is the minority leader in parliament, they argued, his appointment would undermine multi-party democracy.

Further, according to the petitioners, the constitutional consequence of Opiyo Wandayi’s nomination would result in a by-election in Ugunja, which is a misuse of public resources.

“Article 201 (d) says that public money shall be used in a prudent and responsible way,” the petition read.

On June 25, 2024, the President purported to deploy the military or the Kenya Defense Forces to assist the police as the youth of Kenya occupied the Parliament that had been whipped at the State House to Pass the ill-fated Finance Bill 2024.

The 12 activists also observed that under his leadership Mr. Duale allowed the military to join the police to curb demonstrators, a move that was “unconstitutional and unjustified seeing that the situation did not warrant such deployment.”

“The primary mission of the Army is the defense of the nation against external land-based aggression,” the petition read